Cyclone Nivar now lies 450 km south west of Chennai rustling up windspeeds of upto 85 km per hour according to the latest update from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Nivar is expected to grow stronger and become a 'severe cyclone' by 1130 pm and make landfall between Karaikal and Mamallapuram on Wednesday evening with windspeeds in the range of 100-110 kmph and gusting to nearly 120 kmph.
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The storm is expected to fell standing crop, trees and blow away thatched rooftops according to officials from the Met department and advisories have been in place since Sunday to fishermen to avoid the sea.
The storm will increase rainfall in south peninsular India particularly over Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Karaikal from Tuesday to Thursday and rains over south Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Telangana are expected to continue until Friday.
On Monday, cyclonic storm 'Gati' that originated in the Arabian Sea and was headed towards Somalia ebbed into a 'deep depression', a lower category of storm and is expected to slow even more.
India uses a five-step classification scheme for cyclonic storm with storms bearing windspeeds 90-100 kmph termed as 'severe cyclonic storm' and those with progressively higher speeds termed as 'very severe' and 'extremely severe' cyclones.
